Baseboard air distribution assembly



W. G. HAYES BASEBOARD AIR DISTRIBUTION ASSEMBLY June 18, 1957 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 28, 1.953

INVENTQR MY/bm G: Marc! MM GA i/dzm ATTORNEYS W. G- HAYES BASEBOARD AIRDISTRIBUTION ASSEMBLY June 18, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 28. 1953I INVENTIORI M l/lhm Q Hayes B 2mm), M 2% yk azzm ATTORNEYS June 18,1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 28. 1953 1 .IIIIII u I Fr IlIILINVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent O 2,796,015 BASEBOARD AIRDISTRIBUTION ASSEMBLY William G. Hayes, Portsmouth, Va.

Application August 28, 1953, Serial No. 377,024

7 Claims. (Cl. 98-40) This invention relates to heating and coolingassemblies and more particularly to baseboard air distributionassemblies.

It is common knowledge that no heating or cooling system is better thanthe distributing means through which the heated or cooled air is finallydisbursed into into the room. It is therefore the primary object of thisinvention to provide means which afford a greatly improved distributionof heated, humidified, cooled dehumidified, filtered and tempered air toa room.

The air distribution assembly of the present invention comprises aone-piece base member extruded from aluminum or other heat and coldresistant formable materials, including plastics or the like. The basemember has the outward configuration of a mop board, is hollow, and hasa conduit associated with an opening provided in the underside thereoffor admitting air to the base member. A variable diffuser ribbon or tapehaving a series of vents is provided in the upper portion of the basemember for distributing tempered air to the room.

Some attention has been given in the past to baseboard air distributionassemblies; however, the ultimum in practicality has not been reacheddue mainly to problems arising in connection with installing theassemblies. In these assemblies sheet metal bases made in two or moreparts are generally used. In assembling these bases it is necessary toinstall a back member against a wall of the room. Since the studs ofmost walls do not present a, straight line to which to fasten this backmember, the studs have to be out if they project into the room, or, ifthey lean towards the outside, the space behind the base must be filledin. This is not only a time-consuming job but also an exacting one. Itfollows therefore that many times these units are improperly installed.Since the back member must be secured to a wall before plastering, asecond trip is necessary to complete the installation; i. e., to securethe front portion of the air distribution assembly in position after thefinished floor is laid. The problem of removing from the parts alreadyassembled any hardened plaster which fell thereon when the wall wasplastered also arises. when using the assembly of the present inventionsince the same can be installed in one trip to the job site after thewalls are plastered and the finished flooring laid. It is thereforeanother object of the present invention to provide a baseboard unitwhich is not only of a durable construction but has a minimum number ofparts and which can be easily, accurately, and quickly installed;

It is another object of the present invention to provide a baseboardassembly having improved means for regulating the distribution of airinto a room, which means comprises selectively positionable variabledifl'user ribbons or tapes having openings therein, positioned in theupper portion of the base member.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide novel meansfor securing a base member in abutting position with a floor and a sidewall without drilling or cutting the base member.

These problems are alleviated p 2,796,015 Patented June 18, 1957 Otherobjects and advantages will be apparent from the following detaileddescription of one embodiment of the invention which is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the baseboard air distribution unit ofthe present invention showing the unit as installed;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section through the installed unit showingseveral base sections connected together;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a connecting member for positioningand maintaining adjacent base sections in abutting end to endrelationship;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a securing member;

Figure 6 is a detailed section showing the upper portion of the basemember with the diffuser ribbon removed;

Figure 7 is a plan view of a section of one form of diffuser ribbon;

Figure 8 is a plan view of a section of another form of diffuser ribbon;

Figures 9 and 10 are a top plan view and a side view, respectively, of aribbon spacer;

Figure 11 illustrates the spacer shown in Figures 9 and 10 in use;

Figures 12 and 13 are a top plan view and a side view, respectively, ofa ribbon end starter; and

Figure 14 illustrates the end starter shown in Figures 12 and 13 in use.

Referring now in more detail to the drawings, the baseboard airdistribution assembly of the present invention comprises a one-piecebase member designated generally by the numeral 10. The base member canbe extruded from aluminum, or other material with like characteristics,and comprises a front wall 11, a bottom wall 12, and a rear wall 13. Thefront wall 11 and the rear wall 13 terminate at their lower ends ininwardly turned, generally horizontal flanges 21 and 22 respectively.The bottom wall 12 of the base member is spaced upwardly from theinwardly turned flanges 21 and 22 and lies parallel to the plane of theflanges, and thus forms channels 25 and 26 adjacent the lower end of thebase member.

The bottom wall 12 of the base member is cut inwardly from the junctionof the bottom wall and the side walls to form on opening 27. It isreadily seen that because the opening 27 is cut at a point inwardly fromthe junction of the bottom and side walls lateral portions 23 and 24extend along the sides of opening 27, thus channels 25 and 26 extend thelength of the base member.

To conduct the flow of air into the base member, any kind of suitableconduit boot 28 can be used. Conduit boot 28 is connected at its lowerend to a tempered air supply and is open at its upper end. The conduitboot has a flange 29 extending around the perpihery of its upper portionand as can be readily seen in Figures 1 and 2, the conduit boot can beeasily positioned in the lower portion of the base member by means ofthe flange 29. The portions of flange 29 which extend outwardly from thelongitudinal sides of the boot 28 are slidable in the lower channels 25and 26 of the base member. The opening in the top of conduit boot 28 canthus be positioned to register with the opening 27 in the bottom wall 12of the base member and the boot thus positioned forms an airtightconnection between the boot and the base member. It will be understood,of course, that there can be as many openings in the bottom wall of thebase member and as many conduit boots connecting these openings as isnecessary to maintain the proper flow of As can be seen in Figure l, therear wall has an upper portion 14 which slopes inwardly toward thegenerally vertical front wall 11. The front wall 11 and the upperportion 14 of the rear wall 13 terminate in inturned flange portions 15and 16 respectively. The front wall 11 has a second inwardly projectingflange 17 which is spaced from flange 15 and lies parallel therewith. Itcan thus be seen that the spaced flanges 15 and 17 form a channel 18therebetween. Adjacent the top of rear wall 13 there is formed anenlarged portion 19 which extends substantially inwardly toward thefront wall 11. Flange 16 overlies and is spaced from portion 19 thusforming another channel which is designated by reference numeral 25 andwhich lies in a horizontal plane with respect to channel 18.

To properly distribute air to the room, there are provided diffuserribbons or tapes 30 having a series of openings 31 formed therein. Theribbon member 30 is constructed of such thickness as to be easilysnapped into the channels 18 and 20 contained in the upper ends of walls11 and 13 respectively. This can be readily ettected by placing one edgeof the ribbon in channel 20 and snapping the other edge over theshoulder, formed by flange 15, into channel 18. Since it is notdesirable to always maintain the same flow of air into the room, theribbons 3t) can be readily withdrawn from the channels and anotherribbon 30 inserted having different size and a diiferent number ofopenings 31. Two forms of these ribbons are shown in Figures 7 and 8.

Many times it is desirable to have the air enter a room primarily undera window. In such cases a section of ribbon such as shown in Figure 7having only one series of openings can be positioned in the channelsexcept under the windows at which place ribbons with more openings suchas shown in Figure 8 can be used. The various ribbons having differentopenings can be placed end to end in a single base member or usedindividually in separate base members. Thus, with the interchangeablediffuser ribbons of the present invention the desired distribution ofair can be maintained in a room at all times.

In order to improve the appearance of the assembled unit, there is alsoprovided a ribbon end starter t), illustrated in Figures 12 and 13,which makes it possible to sever the ribbons transversely across theportion between adjacent openings every time that the ribbons are cut tofit a length of base member, the additional length of ribbon necessaryto match the length of the base member being provided by the end starter50. The end starter consists of a generally rectangular plate 51 whichis of the same width as the ribbon 30 and which is adapted to be snappedinto place in the base member in the same manner. One end of the plateis reduced in width as at 52, and turned downwardly, and at its distalend 53, outwardly into a plane parallel with the body of the plate. Theend 53 is designed to underlie the end of a ribbon which has been cutacross the solid transverse portion nearest the end of the base member.The end of the plate remote from the end of reduced width is thentrimmed down even with the end of the base member, the plane of the mainbody of the plate then coinciding with that of the adjacent ribbon.Figure 14 illustrates the manner in which the end starter cooperateswith the ribbon, the portion of the end starter which has been trimmedoff to make it even with the end of the base member being shown indotted lines.

A ribbon spacer 54 is also provided to improve the appearance of theassembly at the point where ribbons of different design abut oneanother. The spacer comprises a plate 55 having both ends turneddownwardly as at 55, and then outwardly as at 57. The distal ends 57 aredesigned to underlie the edges of adjacent ribbons as shown in Figure11. The distal ends are reduced in width so that they will pass into thebase member when the lateral edges of the central portion of the spacerare snapped into position.

Figure 5 shows a preferred securing member for securing the base memberof the present invention to a flooring or the like. This securing membercomprises a flat plate 32 and a stud 33. The stud 33 has one end fixedto plate member 32 at 34 as by welding or the like and extends from andlies in a plane normal to the plate member. As can best be seen inFigure 2, plate member 32 can easily be positioned in the lower portionof the base member by sliding the same in the channels 25 and 26. Thestud portion 33 of the securing member extends through the flooring 46and is secured thereto by any suitable means such as a nut 35 andwashers 36. It can thus be readily understood that with the baseboardunit of the present invention, assembling can be eifected easily,accurately, and in a short period of time.

The base member 10 takes up little more room than an enlarged mop boardand as can be seen in Figure l, molding 37 can be placed along the basemember at its lower end and molding 38 can be positioned against wall 47of a room along the upper edge of the base member. The molding 38 restson and is supported by flange 39 which extends rearwardly from theenlarged portion 19 of wall 13. It can thus be seen that the unit blendswith the contour of the lower periphery of a room and not only takes uplittle more room that the common mop board but is in no way unsightly.

It is common knowledge that the outside walls of a house allow thegreatest heat loss in winter or heat gain in summer. It is thereforeboth important and necessary for etficient heating or cooling to blanketthe complete outside wall area of a room with the baseboard airdistributing unit of the present invention. It is necessary in somecases to use more than one base member along a wall. When this isnecessary, the base members are placed end to end as shown best inFigure 2 and a guiding and connecting member designated generally as 40is installed within the hollow base members and extends into the ends oftwo abutting base members. As can be seen, particularly in Figure 4, theconnecting member 40 has a front wall 41, a bottom wall 42 and a rearwall 43 having a generally vertical lower portion 44 and an inwardlysloping upper portion 45. The connecting member 40 is symmetrical tobase members 10 and constructed of such dimensions that it fit snuglywithin a base member 10. It can thus be seen that as many base membersas are necessary to equip the area to be covered, can be connected endto end by means of this guiding and connecting member 40 without any airleakages therebetween and in perfect alignment.

The baseboard air distribution assembly as illustrated and describedabove is by way of example only, and any changes which might occur toone skilled in the art are contemplated by the present invention, withinthe scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A baseboard air distribution assembly comprising a one-piece hollowbase member having front, rear and bottom walls; said bottom wall havingan opening formed therein, an air inlet conduit boot positioned with itsopening registering with said bottom wall opening; means on said basemember supporting said conduit boot for adjustment longitudinally ofsaid base member into said registering position; a diffuser ribbonhaving openings therein; means adjacent the upper end of said basemember for detachably supporting said diifuser ribbon on said basemember; and means for securing said base member to a flooring or thelike; said second mentioned means comprising front and rear channelsintegral with and adjacent the'upper ends of said front and rear wallsre spectively, the edges of said diffuser ribbon being received withinsaid channels.

2. A baseboard air distribution assembly as set forth in claim 1 inwhich the upper limit of said channels is defined by inturned flanges,one of said inturne'd flanges having a rounded portion adjacent itsinward end to thereby allow a diffuser ribbon to be snapped over saidrounded portion into said channels.

3. A baseboard air distribution assembly comprising a hollow base memberhaving front, rear and bottom walls, said front and rear walls eachhaving a portion extending below said bottom wall, a generallyhorizontal flange extending inwardly from the lower end of said extendedportions thereby forming forward and rearward lower channels, spacedparallel flanges extending inwardly from said front and rear wallsadjacent the top thereof, thereby forming forward and rearward upperchannels, a diffuser ribbon having openings therein detachablypositioned within said upper channels, said bottom wall having an airinlet opening formed therein, a conduit boot having flange meanspositioned within said lower channels and having its opening registeringwith the opening in said bottom wall, and means for securing said basemember to a flooring or the like.

4. A baseboard air distribution assembly as set forth in claim 3 inwhich said conduit boot has a flange extending around the peripherythereof, said flange being freely slidable in said lower channels.

5. A baseboard air distribution assembly as set forth in claim 3 inwhich said securing means comprises a plate member, a stud having oneend fixed to the plate member, said plate being slidably received insaid lower channels.

6. A baseboard air distribution assembly comprising a base member havingfront, rear, and bottom walls; said bottom wall having an openingtherein; means for conducting a flow of air through said opening intosaid base member; a flexible diffuser ribbon having openings formedtherein; shoulders formed on mutually facing portions of said front andrear walls adjacent their upper ends; said diffuser ribbon having itsedges supported on the shoulders formed on said front and rear walls;one of said mutually facing walls having a smooth rounded surfaceextending upwardly from the shoulder formed thereon whereby one edge ofthe diffuser ribbon can be snapped over said rounder surface onto theshoulder formed thereon after the other edge of the ribbon has beenplaced on the shoulder formed on the other of said mutually facingwalls.

7. A baseboard air distribution assembly comprising a hollow base memberhaving front, rear and bottom walls, said front and rear walls eachhaving a portion extending below said bottom wall, a generallyhorizontal flange extending inwardly from the lower end of said extendedportions thereby forming forward and rearward lower channels, saidbottom wall having an air inlet opening formed therein, a conduit boothaving flange means adjacent one end thereof, said flange means beingslidably receivable in said channel, whereby said conduit boot may beslid along said channel to a position in which the opening in said bootregisters with the opening in said bottom wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,209,533 Abbott Dec. 19, 1916 1,729,315 Widell Sept. 24, 1929 1,881,508Gredell Oct. 11, 1932 2,183,174 Smith Dec. 12, 1939 2,477,824 Reiss Aug.2, 1949 2,639,655 Whitehead May 26, 1953

